Scenic City Cup created for soccer

January 27th, 2013by Staff Reports in Sportlocal

Four youth soccer organizations in Hamilton County have joined with the Greater Chattanooga Sports and Events Committee to establish the Scenic City Cup competition for teams throughout the Southeast. The inaugural Cup tournament hosted by Redoubt Soccer, North River Soccer, the East Ridge Futbol Club and the Chattanooga Football Club will run May 3-5 on the Redoubt, North River and Camp Jordan Park fields. "Knoxville, Nashville and Birmingham have worked together to put together big tournaments, but it hasn't been done here," North River Soccer president Mark Harrison said in the announcement release. "This is something that will showcase all our facilities." Redoubt board member Greg Love said the group is aiming for more than 200 teams this year. "This will benefit the city and should provide a big economic impact to the area," Love said. Said CFC executive Krue Brock: "We get to invite people from all over the Southeast to come to our beautiful area and enjoy the beautiful game. It's a true team effort." Stump Martin, the East Ridge Parks and recreation director, noted that in addition to giving local athletes a chance "to play in a big-time tournament at home, Chattanooga has great attractions and the area soccer community has the expertise and hospitality to make this a must-attend event for premier soccer teams."

Tennis

• The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's tennis team finished a season-opening weekend with a 7-0 win Saturday against Belmont at the Racquet Club. The doubles matches all went the 2-0 Lady Mocs' way -- 8-3, 8-3 and 8-4 -- and only Jenna Nurik at No. 1 and Claire Mulyadi at No. 6 gave up as many as four points in singles. Kaylene Chadwell, Alexa Flynn, Kayla Jones and Kelsey Coots also won.

Softball

• Sophomore Lacye Walker went 9-for-15 with three home runs, two doubles and 13 RBIs as the Chattanooga State softball team went 3-1 against Florida teams Saturday at Clearwater. The Lady Tigers (3-2) beat Broward 8-0 in five innings behind pitcher Haley Fagan, lost 9-7 to Santa Fe and won 14-5 over St. Johns River and 6-3 over Florida State College Jacksonville. Walker pitched well in relief in that last game and drove in five of the six runs. Khadija Neely was 7-for-15 with four RBIs, Shelby Robertson was 6-for-14 with two doubles and four RBIs and Marina Wilkerson was 7-for-17 with three RBIs.

General

• Reservations are being taken for area Fellowship of Christian Athletes fundraiser dinners featuring Georgia football coach Mark Richt and WNBA star Tamika Catchings from the University of Tennessee. Richt will speak at the FCA "Home Team" Banquet on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Colonnade in Catoosa County; that's for FCA work in northwestern Georgia, and information for attendance and table sponsorships is available at lookoutmountainfca@fca.org and 706-764-1954. It costs $75 a person. Catchings, the reigning WNBA Finals MVP, will headline the southeastern Tennessee FCA's "Road to Victory" Banquet at 6:30 p.m. on March 5 at the Chattanooga Convention Center. Anyone interested in that one should call Jay Fowler at 877-3561 or 309-4255.

• Newly hired UTC football offensive coordinator Jeff Durden will be the guest speaker at the Chattanooga Quarterback Club's noon luncheon meeting Monday at Finley Stadium, and the public is invited. Attendance costs $10 with a meal, $4 without. Durden coached most recently at James Madison University. His first season there, 2004, JMU won the national championship at Finley.

Basketball

• Ish Sanders from Cleveland High School had 18 points and a team-high four assists in Carson-Newman's 76-65 South Atlantic Conference basketball win over Catawba on Saturday at Jefferson City, Tenn. In the women's game, a 66-58 Catawba victory, Cleveland's Shyra Clark led Carson-Newman (10-5, 4-4) with 13 points and added three steals.

Baseball

• Star closer Craig Kimbrel is scheduled to headline the lineup for the Braves Country Caravan stop Monday in Dalton, along with fellow pitcher Gus Schlosser, outfielder Jordan Schafer, general manager Frank Wren and third base coach Brian Snitker. They are scheduled to be at the Academy Sports + Outdoors store on Shugart Road from 3:30 to 5 p.m. That's the closest the caravan is coming to Chattanooga this winter; Rhea County graduate Cory Gearrin is part of the group scheduled for the Academy store in Mount Juliet today.